HI, I am purchasing a 1992 olds 88 and it has 116,000 on it. I checked the trans fluid and its full but brown in color with no burnt smell to it.....so I would assume it needs to be changed. My friend that is selling the car for his dad said that he heard that if regular trans services werent carried out on a regular basis, its better not to change the fluid if it has over 75000 miles on it...............is this true or is this just another back yard mechanics tall tale and he just dont know any better.......I know you dont flush out a high mileage motor with motor oil flush for the oil..........but is this true for trannies also...........I am thinking not but dont know........call me crazy but automatics do have filters in them........and I never heard of not changing one

HI, I am purchasing a 1992 olds 88 and it has 116,000 on it. I checked the trans fluid and its full but brown in color with no burnt smell to it.....so I would assume it needs to be changed. My friend that is selling the car for his dad said that he heard that if regular trans services werent carried out on a regular basis, its better not to change the fluid if it has over 75000 miles on it...............is this true or is this just another back yard mechanics tall tale and he just dont know any better.......I know you dont flush out a high mileage motor with motor oil flush for the oil..........but is this true for trannies also...........I am thinking not but dont know........call me crazy but automatics do have filters in them........and I never heard of not changing one

Geez what @#$%^. Some trans rebuilding shop thought that one up.
That is almost like saying don't change the engine oil, or don't change tires because they are already worn out.

If it is brown it is shot. It changes color just like engine oil does, to show that it has exceeded its useful life.
Change every drop of fluid that you can, drain torque converter if possible, flush the cooler and lines, and install Mobil 1 ATF synthetic.

When a converter could not be drained (on a HP car) I drained fluid from the cooler return line while adding normal fluid at the transmission until I knew the converter/system was flushed, then changed the filter and then did the same thing adding synthetic. You must change the filter. Buy a GOOD quality GM filter from the dealship, not some aftermarket junk.

A few extra bucks now will save a $1500 transmission bill later.

If you missed some of my other posts I have a beater TownCar 5.0 AOD with 245,000 miles on it with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF. Shifts perfectly.

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